Common Nutrition Myths

It has been said that the French enjoy their food, but Americans fear their food.

We have rules and regulations about food that rival the rules and regulations in a prison. Don’t eat that!! Must eat this!! Yet we are no healthier. And many times we are not even happier. So few people really enjoy their food.

Most of us want to be healthy and try to eat well. However, often times the information out there is contradictory or is misunderstood, and sometimes just plain wrong.

Let’s look at a few examples.

Salads Are Healthier

A case in point is eating salads. I used to work in an office where every Friday we had a lunch meeting. We would get fast food and sit around and plan for the coming week. Most people would order a salad. I always ordered a cheeseburger and small fries.

Who was eating healthier? Who was eating fewer calories? There are several considerations in answering that question. What kind of salad and how much salad dressing was used? Most of my colleagues got a salad with all the fixins. They ate salads piled high with cheese and garbanzo beans to lots and lots of salad dressing.

If they had just eaten the salad with some fresh veggies and with little salad dressing they would have eaten healthier and would have had fewer calories than I had. But by the time they loaded that salad with all the fixins, I had the healthier option both nutritionally and calorie wise.

Even with the French fries I had them beat. It is less the fries than the amount of fries you eat.

Low Fat Salad Dressings Are a Better Choice

Regular readers here at MTTD have heard me say before, when manufactures take the fat out of food they have to add something to replace it. Most often that ‘something’ is sugar.

So low fat dressings are not necessarily a healthy choice. Me? If I am out I get regular dressing on the side, and then use less of it.

Substitute Chicken or Turkey for Beef

When eating out many people will opt for a fast food chicken option thinking that chicken is healthier. But it is probably not. Especially at fast food restaurant, many chicken sandwiches have more calories than a Whopper. If you are watching your salt intake you may be surprised to learn many fast food chicken has upwards of 20% more salt than a Quarter Pounder.

As for turkey, white meat is low in fat. But most ground turkey you find in grocery stores is a mixture of both white and dark turkey meat. Dark turkey meat is loaded with fat. So depending on your eating and health goals substituting ground turkey in place of ground beef or chuck in spaghetti sauce may not be healthier.

Cut Back on Fat

Many people try to eat low fat or even fat free diets. I have dealt with this topic in some depth in several posts. A recap of them all is that fat is a necessary nutrient the body needs for you to remain healthy.

As with most diet related matters moderation is often the key.

Eat Fewer Calories To Lose Weight

The first thing many people will do when they want to lose weight is try to cut calories. This can and usually does backfire.

When you start to eat less the body reads that as famine or starvation and begins to store fat. Ooooppps! You end up gaining weight.

Eating fewer calories also causes your metabolism to slow down or stall. The body ends up burning fewer calories in order to conserve energy.

Eating too little food can result in all manner of health issues including abnormally low blood pressure, dizziness, and anemia to name a few, as well as gaining weight.

Conclusion

I stick with my basic premise about food and eating and expressed here many times. Eat what gives you pleasure and in moderation. Portion size is key. Real food is nutrient rich and a small portion will make you feel full longer.

Featured Recipe

Totally Decadent Grilled CheeseSandwich with Bacon and Tomato

For some reason fall and grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup go together like a horse and carriage in my mind.

I love the plain ‘ole humble grilled cheese sandwich. But I also have and love many variations on this theme. Today I am sharing my most decadent version of a grilled cheese sandwich.

Why decadent? Because it has bacon in it. Oh yeah!! Bacon. Bacon. Bacon!!!!!!!!!!

You can use any kind of bread, any kind of cheese. I used one (1) slice of cheddar and one (1 slice) of Swiss cheese. If you want an extra thick sandwich, use four (4) slices of cheese.

This is what you need for each sandwich:

2-3 slices of bacon

2 slices of bread

1-2 slices of tomato

2 slices of cheese

1-2 tablespoons butter

Here is what you do:

Fry the bacon crisp.

While the bacon is frying cut the tomato into slices.

When the bacon is crisp drain on paper towels. Save the bacon drippings for later.

Place a slice of cheese on each piece of bread.

On one slice of bread add the bacon, and on the other slice add the tomato.

Melt one (1) tablespoon of the butter in a skillet.

NOTE: I find this the easiest way to make a grilled sandwich. No matter how much I soften the butter I tear the bread trying to butter it.

Add the assembled sandwich to the skillet and grill till nicely browned.

Then flip the sandwich to the other side. Add more butter to the skillet if needed. I always find I need to.

TIP: Here is best way I have found of knowing when to turn the sandwich. When you see the butter turning brown around the edges of the sandwich, it is about time to turn it.

Grill the other side until it is nicely browned and the cheese is melting.

Serve with what ever you like. I used up a half of pear in the fridge and had some salt and pepper potato chips with my sandwich.

Weather here today is too warm for hot tomato soup; so I will save that for a crisp cool fall day. Or till a snow storm this winter. Hot tomato soup and gooey grilled cheese is a great comfort to me when a snow storm is afoot!

Nifty Noshing!!!

Cost

2 slices of bacon $0.58

2 slices of bread $0.10

1-2 slices of tomato $0.30

2 slices of cheese $0.51

1-2 tablespoons butter $0.18

Total cost = $1.67

Cost per person = $1.67

Quote of the Day

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.